Prince Andrew stripped of all his military titles amid sexual abuse lawsuit
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Read the Buckingham Palace's official statement HERE:
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has been stripped of all his military titles by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II after being involved in a sex abuse lawsuit.
The Buckingham Palace has made the announcement on the British royal family's social media pages.
It reads: “With the Queen's approval and agreement, the Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to the Queen.
“The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”
This means Prince Andrew will no longer use the style His Royal Highness in any official capacity.
The 61-year-old British royal is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip.
He is also ninth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Prince Andrew has rendered 22 years of service in the Royal Navy and also served as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War.
Following the Buckingham Palace's announcement, the Duke of York has now lost the following military titles:
- Colonel of the Grenadier Guards
- Honorary air commodore of RAF Lossiemouth
- Colonel-in-chief of the Royal Irish Regiment
- Colonel-in-chief of the Small Arms School Corps
- Colonel-in-chief of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth's Own)
- Colonel-in-chief of the Yorkshire Regiment
- Colonel-in-chief of the Small Arms School Corps
- Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm
- Royal colonel of the Royal Highland Fusiliers
- Royal colonel of the Royal Regiment of Scotland
The duke will also reportedly lose other overseas honorary roles, namely:
- Colonel-in-chief of The Royal Highland Fusiliers Of Canada
- Colonel-in-chief of the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment
- Colonel-in-chief of the Princess Louise Fusiliers of Canada
- Colonel-in-chief of the Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment)
However, BBC reports that the Palace has confirmed that Prince Andrew will retain his service rank of Vice-Admiral.
The decision to strip Prince Andrew of all his military titles comes after a US judge has ruled that the British royal should face the civil charges filed against him by Virginia Giuffre.
Giuffre, who's now 38 years old, has filed a sexual abuse case in New York back in August 2021 against Prince Andrew under the state's Child Victims Act.
The said law enables survivors of childhood sexual abuse to pursue a case even if too much time had passed.
In the court documents, Giuffre claims that she is a victim of sex trafficking and abuse by the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
She first spoke about the allegations in a 2019 interview for BBC TV's Panorama, where she revealed that she was trafficked to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was only 17 years old.
Giuffre also alleged that the Duke of York had sexually abused her on three occasions, and that these happened both in the US and the UK when she was still a minor.
Prince Andrew had already denied these allegations in a 2019 interview with BBC, saying he doesn't recall ever meeting Giuffre and that claims of them having sex in the US and the UK “didn't happen.”
Look back on some of the royals who relinquished their titles in the gallery below.
